Fire-escape.



V. W. HBYDLAUFF.

PIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY` 13, 1911.

V. W. HEYDLAUFF.

FIRE ESGAPE.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY13,1911.

1,022,417. Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

V. W. HEYDLAUFF.

FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 1s, 1911.

Patented Apr. 9, i912,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3 l MM g is ov VECTR W. EEYDLAUFF, 0F AVRE, MONTANA.

FIRE-ESGM.

Specication-of Letters Patent.

Application led July 1,3, 191.1. Serial No. 638,260.

Patented Apr. 9,1912.

To all 'whom 'it may concern Be it lmown thatI, VICTOR W. HEYDLAUFF, asubject of the King of Great Britain, re-

siding at Havre, in the county of Ch'outeaul and State of Montana, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire- Escapesiand I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, 'and exact descriptionof the invention, Such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichitappertains to make and-use the same.

My invention has for its object to provide a simplified and improved reescape of that type wherein the carrier is arranged to travel downwardon a rope orother cable attached'to a building at its upper end, andwherein vthe downward movements of the carrier with the personsupportedl thereby, is limited or controlled by a governor.

As one of the lchieii features of thev present invention, the carrier isso constructed that it may be quickly and easily applied to thesupported upper portion of the cable, thereby adapting a plurality ofany desired number of'carriers to be applied to the cable in successionand used to lower persons from a burning building.

@ther features of the invention are directed to an improved frictionaldevice and frictional centrifugal actuated governor for preventing. toorapid descent of the carrier' and the person supported thereby.

Generally stated, the invention consists of the novel devices andcombination oi? devices hereinafter described and dened in the claims. p

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention in itspreferred form, like (,:haracters indicate like parts throughout theseveral views. l

Referring to the drawings, Figure l is a view in side elevation, withsome parts broken away, showing the improved fire escape; Fig. 2 is aside elevation of the device looking atthe opposite side from that shownin Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectiontaken on the line :v3 w8 ofFig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a detail showing the ex'pansible clutch wheelremoved from the case of the carrier.

The numeral 1 indicates a supporting cable which may be 'an ordinaryrope, or wire rope, the upper end of which is adapt ed to be attached toany suitable portion of a building, usually in the' vicinity of anulpper window. The case or frame of the carrier is'rnade up of a mainsection 2, and a supplemental section 3, which sections are provided,respectively, with hinge lugs i and 5, pivotally connected by hinge pins6. These two case sections are adapted to be normally heldtogether, orinterlocked, as shown in the drawings, by a suitable lock device shownas comprising a lock lever 7 'hinged to the supplemental Asection 3 andengageable with a lock lugr 8 inthe main lsection 2.l A suitable spring,not shown, may be employed for normally holding the lock lever 7engaged. by the lock lug 8. The main frame or case section 2 is providedwith a central hub 9 and with a laterally projecting annular fia-nge 10,which latter serves as the external member of the friction clutch. Theother member of the saidfriction. clutch is in the formof a divided andexpansible clutch ring 11, the sections of which are secured at one endto arms 12 carried by ahub 13.

A short shaft 14 is journaled in the hub I 9 ofI the frame section 2,and the hub 13 of the wheel, made up of the elements 11, 12 and 13, isrigidly secured to one end of the `said* shaft. To the other end of thesaid shaft, the hub of a driving sheave or grooved vwheel 15 is rigidlysecured. The

vgroove in' the periphery of the sheave 15 is made to approximately fitthe cable 1and to increase frictional engagement therewith,

it 'is provided with sharp edged traction ribs 16.

The cable is pressed into tight engagement with the ribbed channel orperiphery of the sheave 15 by means of a frictional abutment orl presserblock 17, the face of which is also preferably grooved to approximatelylit the cable 1. This frictional abutment 17 is provided with a stem 18that works through the outer iangeof the supplemental case or framesection 3, and a quite heavy'coilednspring 19 is compressed between thesaid abutment 17 with the said frame section 3. This Spring 19 causesthe abutment 17 to tightly press the cable into contact. with the ribbedchannel of the sheave 15.

The numeral 20 indicates a stop pin in the outer end of the stem 18,which revents the spring -19 from throwing the a utment out of placewhen the supplemental frame or case section 3 is turned into o enedposition indicated by dotted lines in ig. 3.

The numeral 21 indicates a harness or strap, one end of which is shownas permanentlyy attached, and the other end of which is shown asprovided with a snap hook 22, for detachably connecting the perforatedlug 23, shown as cast integral with the case or frame section 2. Also,as shown, the case sections 2 and 3 are. provided with supplementalupwardly and downwardly extended cable guides 24 and 25, which operateto form guide tubes or sleeves which give greater stability to thecarrier when moving downward on the cable.

For operating the friction clutch above described, I preferably employ acentrifugal governor comprising weights 26, levers 27, and one 0r morecoiled springs 28a. The'we'ights 26are secured to the outer ends of thelevers 27 and the spring 2,8a connectsthe said weights and tends to drawthe same and the levers 27 toward the axis 4of the shaft 14. At theirouter ends, the levers 27 are provided with square Shanks or heads 28that fit seats 29 formed between the separate ends of the divided clutchring or wheel rim 11.

Normally, and under predetermined low speeds, the spring 28a holds theweights 26 drawn inward, and leaves the expansible clutch ring 11 out ofaction on the coperating clutch rim 10, which latter, of course, is anon-rotary clutch member secured to the 'frame or case of the carrier.When, however, a certain predetermined speed is exceeded, thecentrifugal force exerted inthe weights 26 overcomes the spring 28a,moves the levers 27 pivotally away from each other and thereby causesthe angular heads 28 to expand the said clutch ring 11, which latter isconnected for rotation with the driving sheave or wheel 15.

With this improved re escape, it is not necessary that the carrier beleft attached to the cable, but on the contrary, any desired numberthereof may be left in the different rooms of the hotel or otherbuilding. These carriers, when the supplemental case or `trame sections3 are moved pivot-ally approximately into the open position indicated bydotted lines in Fig. 3, may be easily applied to the cable simply byclosing and securing the said section 3, and thereby clamping the cablebetween the groovcd periphery of the sheave 15 and the grooved face ofthe frictional abutment 17. The purpose of a harness strap 21, is, ofcourse, to attach the person to the carrier and it would preferably beapplied to the body just below the arms. rlhen when the carrier has beenapplied to the cable, as stated, the person desiring to make a descent,either climbs or' 'umps out .of the window, and the descent of thecarrier with its load will then immediately begin. The carrier, with itsload, will move downward Aat a predetermined, desired speed under thecontrol of the friction clutch and governor, already described.

As is evident, as manyV persons may escape from the building over thesingle cable as can find proper carriers for application to the cable.The descent of the carrier on the cable is also frictionally retarded bythe frictional engagement between the cable and the frictional abutmentof the presser head 17, and also, this retarding action will be somewhatfurther increased by the frictional engagement between the cable and thedivided guide tubes 24-25- The tire escape described is of comparativelysmall cost, is convenient and reliable, and generally efficient for thepurposes had in view.

What I claim is:

1. A lire escape comprising a carrier frame adapted 'to travel downwardon a cable and having hinged sections adapted to open for application toa cable, a frictional abutment on one of the said frame sections, adriving wheel opposite said abutment adapted to engage and be driven bysaid cable, and a friction clutch for restricting rotation of saiddriving wheel, and hence, controlling the descent vof the carrier on thecable.

2. A lire escape comprising a carrier' frame adapted to travel downwardon a cable and having hinged sections ada ted to open for application toa cable, a rictional abutment on one of ythe said frame sections, a.driving wheel opposite said abutment adapted to engage and be driven bysaid cable, and a friction clutch for restricting rotation of saiddriving wheel and .con-

trolling the descent of the carrier on the cable, and a centrifugalgovernor controlling said clutch.

3. A fire escape comprising a carrier frame, Aa drivingwheel journaledto said frame and engageable lwith the cable, a yielding frictionalabutment engageable with the cable and pressing the cable intoengagement with said driving wheel, a friction clutch comprising africtional flange on said carrier frame and an expansible clutch ringrotatable with said driving wheel, and a centrifugal governor driven bysaid driving wheel and having connections for expanding said clutch ringand rendering the same operative, when a predetermined speed has beenexceeded in the downwardv travel of the carrier.

4. A lire escape comprising a carrier frame adapted to travelv downwardon a cable and having hinge sections adapted to open up for applicationto the cable, of a driving wheel journaled to one of the framesections,- a device on the other case section for .pressing the cableinto engagement with said driving wheel, and a friction clutch forrestricting rotation of said driving wheel land controlling the descentof the carrier on the cable.

5. A lire escape comprising a carrier frame adapted to travel downwardon a controlling the descent of the carrier on the 10 cable, and acentrifugal governor controlcable and having hinge sections adapted toling the said clutch.

open up for application to the cable, of a driving wheel journaled toone of the frame sections, a device on the other case section forpressing the cable into engagement with said driving wheel, a frictionclutch for restricting rotation of said driving wheel and In testimonywhereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

VICTGR W. HEYDLAUFF. Witnesses:

BERNIGE G. WHEELER, HARRY D. KILGORE.

